1. A short thread on regime change
Yesterday I asked "Shouldn’t an important U.S. foreign policy goal of the next couple of decades be regime change in China?" The question implies that I think the right answer is Yes. I gather there's been a bit of a reaction to this suggestion.
Yesterday I asked "Shouldn’t an important U.S. foreign policy goal of the next couple of decades be regime change in China?" The question implies that I think the right answer is Yes. I gather there's been a bit of a reaction to this suggestion.
2. I'm glad to have stimulated some debate, and I hope some re-thinking. I'll put my position simply. The case for regime change shouldn't really be controversial. The U.S. at its best has always stood for the proposition that all people everywhere deserve to be free.
3. Now it goes without saying there are practical limits to what we can and should do to make this happen. Much of what we do is simply to serve as an example. We use diplomacy, public and private, to persuade other nations to move toward freedom. We help civil society abroad.
4. We sometimes use political or economic pressure. We rarely use and should rarely use military force. And of course we realize that in the real world prudence requires that we be allied with oppressive regimes, sometimes terrible regimes (the Soviet Union), and sometimes...
5. ...for a long time (Saudi Arabia). But surely our ultimate goal, after preserving and securing our and freedom, is to be a force for freedom in the world. And this means changing un-free regimes to free ones, or freer ones. This means regime change, sometimes gradual,...
6. ...sometimes, in the way the world works, sudden. I do think a relatively open embrace of freedom as our goal, and a relatively candid debate over means, would serve the nation well. Such a debate will resolve very few of the particular choices facing us.
7. Those choices will always depend on the weighing of particular circumstances. This will often be difficult and controversial. But having the goal in mind would, I think, clarify and elevate our view. It would be a north star to help guide our reactions...
8. ...to diverse circumstances. We can always recall "the palpable truth, that the mass of mankind has not been born with saddles on their backs, nor a favored few booted and spurred, ready to ride them legitimately, by the grace of God," or by the dictates of History or Science.
9. The people of China deserve to be free. The people of Saudi Arabia deserve to be free. This means, ultimately, regime change. How to help different peoples achieve freedom is a complicated question. The conditions of freedom and the paths to freedom are challenging.
10. Freedom isn't our only goal. But it is our key political goal. And it is the goal of freedom not just for us but for all people everywhere, the goal of freedom with its noble simplicity and even quiet grandeur, that gives meaning and elevation to the American experiment.
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